


Clever Girl

by silverjewelkitten



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Episode Fix-it: s04e08 Silence in the Library, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-06
Updated: 2014-07-06
Packaged: 2018-02-07 16:47:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1906494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverjewelkitten/pseuds/silverjewelkitten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Oh, where are we going?" He asks her, amused by her insistence.  "Clara?" The Doctor asks, watching as she fiddles with the Tardis controls. "What are you doing?!" She shifts her eyes to him and smiles, all teeth. </p><p>"Oh, you'll like this bit." She answers, as she pulls a lever and they go lurching off into space.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Clever Girl

Clara Oswald wakes up in the spare bed at the Maitland household, head spinning with half lived lives and the niggling sensation that someone is talking. She assumes it will always feel strange to remember how it felt to be scattered everywhere all at once, living and dying over and over again. 

It's Wednesday again, as if no time has passed at all, as if the Doctor could have merely been an incredibly vivid dream. Nevertheless she rouses to full alertness, and remembers everything. Her body shoots up in bed, and there he is, waiting diigently by her side.

He's wearing rounded reading glasses and she now realizes the soft murmured speech is coming from the Doctor, reading beside her. "She's got ice in her heart and a kiss on her lips, and a soft side she keeps well-hidden." He looks up as she stretches her arms over her head.

"What's that then?" She asks, gesturing to the book, "Who's Melody Malone?"

"An old friend." He says, sadness just crinkling at the corner of his mouth and seeping into his eyes. He slides his palm over the cover and shuts the book gently. "Well, three old friends." He shakes his head, "No, actually, two old friends and their daughter. Well, two old friends and my wife, who was their daught- No, no, the first one was fine."

"Do you mean the Ponds?" She says, rubbing sleepily at her eyes. his face falls and his jaw clenches like he's biting the inside of his cheek, a sore spot surely. "Sorry, it's just, I met them once." He smiles just a tiny bit, reaching out to ruffle her hair.

"At the asylum?" He asks, thumbing absent-mindedly at the book's pages. She shakes her head. 

"No. It's hard to remember everything, m' heads all fuzzy." He grimaces sympathetically and brushes a lock of her hair back. "I think I rewrote history."

"Ha, my impossible girl, of course you did." She stands up and makes a scrunched up face at him.

"No," She starts, "That's not what I mean." She pulls at his hand, "Come on, up you clever boy, I've got something to show you." She nearly trips him with how quickly she runs down the stairs, impatiently pushing at the tardis until it begrudgingly opens for her.

"Oh, where are we going?" He asks her, amused by her insistence. "Clara?" The Doctor asks, watching as she fiddles with the Tardis controls. "What are you doing?!" She shifts her eyes to him and smiles, all teeth. 

"Oh, you'll like this bit." She answers, as she pulls a lever and they go lurching off into space.

"How are you flying my Tardis?!" He screams at her, gripping tightly to the hand rails as his ship abruptly lands. "Where are we? And how did you do that?" He scans her quickly with his screwdriver. "You're human, you're Clara, how are you flying my Tardis?"

"Oh come on, chin boy! We're off to see the universe!" She steps away from the console and hops down the stairs, throwing open the doors. "Not sure where we are but I know I got it right." She taps her temple, "Coordinates, in here. And instructions!"

She hastily grabs his hand and they hit the ground running. "Woah, nelly!" The Doctor says, immediately making a sour face, "No, definitely not saying that again." Breathless, adrenaline pumping, "Where are we?" Just a touch of excitement.

"The question is when, Doctor, not where! Well, sort of where, but when is much more important!" She stops running, the Doctor nearly crashing into her back, "5140 something, and we," She gestures wildly all around them, "Are at Luna university!"

"No, no we can't be here, there's nothing for me here, Clara. Why are we here?" She gives him a mad grin, and walks through an automatic door.  
"We are here," pausing for suspense, "To see Professor Song."

"But she's dead, she died centuries ago, Clara, this is not going to help me, and if I'm being honest I should very much like to leave now." Clara shakes her head at him.

"I told you, I rewrote the future. Or the past. Whatever, sometimes I get them a bit mixed up." He lets her pull him through the vast hallways in a seemingly random pattern. “Two rights, a left, up three flights, and the fifth door on the right.” She says, as they stop in front of an office door. “See, Professor River Song. This is her office.”

“I see that, I’m not blind.” He imitates mockingly, “I’ll be interrupting her time stream, I can’t see her again.” Clara raps on the door quickly and practically jumps on her feet with excitement.

The door opens and there stands River Song, her hair pinned back out of her face and a smirk plastered on her lips. “Hello, sweetie.” She shifts her sight over, “Hello, Clara.”

“Hello, Professor Song. Lost something?” They share a secret smile. She pushes the Doctor forwards into the doorway. “Your husband, perhaps?”

“Oh, he always manages to get lost, mind you, he always finds his way back in the end, with a little help of course.” The Doctor gapes at her, dumb-founded, stroking first at her cheek and then at her hair.

“But you’re alive, that’s, that’s completely impossible.”She rolls her eyes.

“Almost completely impossible. Clara, would you be a dear and give us a mo’?” Clara puts her hands behind her back and bites her lip, backing away slowly. 

“Right, I’ll just leave you two alone then, you’ve got lots of catching up to do!” With that she waves and trots around the corner, giddy about exploring a 51st century University., and maybe it has something to do with pride. 

“River, you cannot be alive. I watched you die. I uploaded your consciousness to the hard drive of the biggest hard drive in the Universe and I left you there.” She presses her forehead against his lightly, smiling up at him.

“Yes, you did.” She turns her face up and kisses him, “I’m still working on a way to forgive you for that.” He clutches at her shoulders, half expecting her to disappear.  
“You, you were an echo, you were a ghost, I-I tried to save you I tried everything but I couldn’t cross my own time stream, I-“ She kisses him again, deeper this time, and even his rambling mouth ceases so that he can kiss her back properly, hands in her wild hair and hearts hammering double time in his chest.

“I told you. Spoilers. There’s always something more.” He traces her jawline with his thumbs, hearts soaring. He looks confused, his eyebrows scrunching up as he strokes at her cheeks and the lines under her eyes.

“But how did she do it? She saved me all those times and she was able to save you too? I don’t understand.” He rubs his hands together, preparing for the worst.

“You’re not the only one capable of hacking the data core. She made it impossible for CAL to completely shut down, so my memory space was only slightly compromised. When you imported my neural relay to the data core my body was able to heal. Tiny bit of regeneration energy left, just enough to wake me up, and then Lux had me teleported to the nearest hospital.” She smiles, finished.

“But that’s.” He whispers, hovering close to her mouth again, “Brilliant.”

“Oh yes, she is. Clever girl. And pretty.” She raises an eyebrow at him, a challenge.

“Oi, I was mourning, nothing happened.”

“I didn’t say it did, sweetie.” She’s laughing at him silently.

“There was no “it”. We were sort of busy and did I mention that I was married at the time?”

“Oh, shut up.” She says, wrapping her fingers around his shoulder and kissing him again. He smiles into it and dips her, hands splayed across her back. “I do like the new coat.” She says, once she’s righted again, brushing at invisible dirt on his shoulders. “And oh, look, grey hair number eight.”

He grabs her hand, “Have I ever told you about the seven moons orbiting the Gammandon system?” She shakes her head, intrigued. “Well, once every million years or so, they align, seven moons in one sky, and-“

“Well”, she says, “Then what are we waiting for?” Clara, graciously, allows them the day to themselves, pledging to stay out of trouble, with mild success.


End file.
